


Cast On, Bind Off

by predilection



Category: Kamen Rider - All Media Types, Kamen Rider Zi-O
Genre: Gen, Knitting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-18 15:09:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17583182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/predilection/pseuds/predilection
Summary: Somehow, of all the differences between the demon king that tried to murder them in the future and the younger version of him they knew in the past, this was the most jarring and implausible.Or: Sougo enjoys knitting.





	Cast On, Bind Off

**Author's Note:**

> Something cute and silly I wrote while I was waiting for episode 17 to air. 
> 
> In related news, knitting is awesome, underrated, and totally the kind of random hobby I would expect Sougo to have.

As Tsukuyomi set her textbooks on the table, Sougo, who was sitting across from her, reached into his school bag. He completely ignored his books, however, and instead took out a ball of yawn and two knitting needles. One of the needles was already connected to a project made of white fluffy wool.

"What are you doing?" she asked. 

"Making something special," he said, smiling over at her as his hands moved with grace and skill to add to his project.

She didn't know what to say to that. 

When she and Geiz traveled back through time to stop Oma Zi-O, Tsukuyomi expected to be able to look at the young demon king and see clear indications of the monster he would become. What she couldn't have expected was the bright-eyed, optimistic young man they discovered instead, one who gave cheerful speeches about friendship and trust, and seemed to constantly do things to thoroughly mess with their preconceptions. 

Like knit, apparently.

When Tsukuyomi finally found her voice, she asked, "What about your homework?" They had a math test tomorrow that she knew Sougo was not prepared for.

"This is more important," he told her.

She didn't know what to say to that either, and she found that she couldn't look away as he continued to knit in front of her.

*

She threw her arms up into the arm. "He knits."

"What are you even talking about?" Geiz asked, so Tsukuyomi explained what she'd seen earlier.

"He actually knits, Geiz."

Geiz crossed his arms and leaned against the wall of their shared room. "So?"

"What kind of evil demon king knits?" That was the crux of the matter. Somehow, of all the differences between the demon king that tried to murder them in the future and the younger version of him they knew in the past, this was the most jarring and implausible. It also cemented what she was already coming to understand: that it wasn't set it stone that Sougo would become a tyrant.

Geiz shifted uncomfortably. "So he's a little different. In fifty years, he's still a killer though."

Tsukuyomi stared at him. She knew he didn't completely believe that.

And because Sougo was apparently determined to be as innocuous as possible at the most opportune moments, it was then that bounced up the stairs, found them, and held out his white fluffy creation to Tsukuyomi.

"Sougo?"

"It's for you," he said like that explained everything.

Hesitantly, Tsukuyomi reached out and took it from his hands. It was a scarf, and as she unwound it to get a better look at it, she was struck by just how soft it was.

"Do you like it?" he asked, his expression hopeful.

The weather was starting to get colder, and the scarf did seem like it would be warm. It also would match her dresses nicely. It was a thoughtful, beautiful gift.

"It's... lovely," she said a little stiffly, thrown by this turn of events.

Sougo smiled, and then pointed at Geiz and declared, "I'm going to make you a hat next." Before she or Geiz could even react to that, he was already hurrying back down the stairs. 

"He actually knits," Geiz said once he was gone, and she could hear the disbelief in his voice.

Tsukuyomi groaned. "I told you!"

*

"I didn't know Sougo could knit," she said the next morning when she and Geiz were sitting at the table eating breakfast with Sougo's uncle. It was just the three of them since Sougo always woke up last, and she was still processing this revelation.

"Well, you see, he learned from my sister before she died," Sougo's uncle explained. "It's comforting for him, I suppose."

Tsukuyomi didn't know that, and judging by the surprised look on Geiz's face, he didn't either.

"Your sister?" Geiz asked.

"Sougo's mother," Sougo's uncle said. He had a faraway look in his eyes. "She knitted things for the people she loved. In fact, she knit a lot of Sougo's clothing when he was a kid. She was a free spirit, much like her son." He shook his head. "But enough about that. I made lunch for all three of you."

Tsukuyomi turned to Geiz the second Sougo's uncle disappeared into the kitchen.

Geiz glared back. "Don't bother saying it."

"I think it needs to be said."

"So he's soft. What difference does that make?"

She thought of her scarf and frowned. "Maybe all the difference in the world."

*

Now that she was looking for it, she noticed signs that Sougo knit often. She walked by the open door to his bedroom and her attention was drawn, for the first time, to the knit blanket thrown over the foot of his bed. There were also knit pot holders in the kitchen, and recently she caught glimpses of garish yellow and red yarn in his bag.

"He really is making you a hat," she told Geiz while they were drinking tea afterschool.

"I'll burn it," Geiz said.

"But he's spending hours on it." She liked her scarf, and since she received it, she couldn't stop thinking about how Sougo had made it specially for her.

"I don't want it!" Geiz shouted suddenly, slamming his hands down on the table.

"Geiz?"

"I don't--" He shook his head and growled, but his brows were furrowed like he was perplexed. "He's not supposed to be like this!"

She gazed down at her reflection in her tea. "I know," she said quietly. "But he is."

*

The next day, Sougo presented Geiz with a red hat with his name stitched into it in yellow.

Geiz ripped it angrily from his hands and ran up the stairs, his footfalls heavy. He didn't say thank you, but neither did he tell Sougo how much he hated it.

She was reasonably sure that he didn't burn it either.

*

"It's a monstrosity," Geiz argued later when they were alone in the shop.

"It was nice of him," she pointed out. 

"Stop it!" Geiz snapped.

"Stop what?"

"Stop trying to convince me!"

She sighed. "I don't think I'm the one doing the convincing. For days now, when he wasn't in school or fighting at your side, he was knitting for you."

"Ugh! Shut up!"

She put her hands on her hips. "Why can't you just admit--"

"He murders everyone we care about!"

She reared back and felt her anger rising. Why was Geiz ignoring the evidence in front of him? "He doesn't have to become that. You've seen him, Geiz!" Her voice was getting louder and louder. "He's nothing like Oma Zi-O as he is now! And acting like he is just hurts our cause!"

"Our cause?" Geiz snorted. "Do you even remember what that is?"

"To save the future!" she shouted in his face. "If everyone treats you like a monster, then you're more likely to become one!"

"You want me to be nice?"

"I want you to be logical!" She made a noise of frustration and had to resist slamming her fists down onto his chest. "Burn the hat if you hate it so much, but stop being cruel to someone who hasn't done anything but try to be our friend!"

*

When she entered their room later that evening, the hat was poking out from under a textbook on Geiz's desk.

"I still hate it," he told her when he caught her staring at it.

She counted it as a win regardless.

*

A week later, she came downstairs to grab a snack from the kitchen and found Sougo sitting behind the cash register, knitting needles in his hands. It wasn't the first time she'd seen him there as he often watched over the shop when his uncle had errands to run.

"What are you making?" she asked. The wool was grey and thin this time, and now that she was paying attention, the needles were thinner too.

"A sweater for uncle," he replied and held up what he had finished so far. "This is going to be the back of it."

She left him to it, but the moment she entered the back room, she nearly jumped in surprise. Geiz was standing next to the doorframe, his back to the wall, just out of sight of the shop. 

"Geiz," she said in alarm, her hand over her heart. "What are you doing here?"

He turned his head to the side, but it still took her a second to figure out that he could see Sougo from where he was standing, and that he was there because he was keeping an eye on him.

She lowered her voice. "Are you spying on him?"

He raised his chin. "I'm merely observing him."

She took three steps closer to Geiz so she could see what he was seeing. Sougo was still sitting at the counter, his back to them, working on the sweater.

"And what are you observing?" she asked. She was starting to get angry again.

Geiz opened his mouth, closed it, and then said thought his teeth, "He's been working on that thing for three hours."

"And you're still here? Are you expecting him to stab someone with the needles?"

Geiz's hands were in fists at his side, and it took him a few seconds to spit out, "No."

"Then why are you wasting your time?"

He shifted his weight, and she knew that meant he was uncomfortable. He didn't answer her though, and fed up, she finally went to get something to eat.

When she emerged from the kitchen a few minutes later with a plate in her hand, Geiz was gone.

*

Tsukuyomi didn't give much consideration to Woz's appearance, not just because he often wore the same outfit, but also because he had an unfortunate tendency to pop up during crises when her attention was elsewhere.

But a few weeks later, while Sougo and Geiz were fighting an Another Rider, she noticed something different about him. He was wearing black fingerless gloves. What caught her eye wasn't just that the gloves were new, it was that they were a little fluffy and looked hand-knit.

She rounded on Sougo the second they were back at the shop. "You made Woz gloves?" 

Sougo raised his hands in surrender, a fearful frown on his face. "Yes?"

"Why?" Because her and Geiz she could understand, but Woz?

He hunched down like he expected to be hit. "Because it's almost winter and he didn't seem to have any."

His answer surprised her. It shouldn't have, given what she already knew about him, but that's what he did: he continuously threw them curveballs.

She sighed. "He's not your friend, Sougo. He can't be trusted."

Sougo straightened slowly. "I know but... I want him to be my friend. Our friend," he added quickly. "In the future."

"That's not--" she pinched the bridge of her nose and looked up into Sougo's bright, confused eyes. "Why are you like this?" she asked him.

He blinked at her. "Like what?"

She groaned and turned around so she could face Geiz where he was standing next to a display case, his arms crossed over his chest. He met her eyes. "He knitted a gift for our enemy," she said to him.

Geiz let out a deep, aggrieved breath and looked up at the ceiling. "Fine," he said. "You were right."

"What?" She hadn't expected him to agree with her. 

He grimaced, and it looked like it pained him to say his next words. "Maybe he's not a monster."

"Geiz," she said softly as it hit her what this meant. At last, they were on the same page. Instead of being antagonistic towards Sougo, they could work together to keep him the kind-hearted person he was -- the kind of person who knitted gifts for those he cared about.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Sougo asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room. 

"We need to review the fight," Geiz said quickly, and Tsukuyomi, taking pity on him, brought up the footage on her tablet.

*

The blizzard came out of nowhere a month later. They woke up one morning to find freezing temperatures and a foot of snow on the ground. Of course, this was when an Another Rider made itself known to them.

As she waited for Geiz by the door, she wrapped her scarf around her neck, grateful for its warmth and for the way it made something settle inside her chest.

She looked up at the sound of Geiz's footsteps coming down the stairs, and when he came into view, she pointed at him, her eyes wide. "Ah!" 

On his head he was wearing a familiar red and yellow hat.

"Come on," Geiz said, scowling. "Sougo's already there." He glared at her as if daring her to comment further. 

She didn't say anything, but she grinned at him, and as they ran through the snow together, she noticed that Sougo had matched the red in the hat to the red in Geiz's collar. It didn't look as out of place on him as she had expected it to. If anything, it suited him.


End file.
